It Is What It Is
by EllaBella18
Summary: They still had a daughter, and they still had to be a team. AU. Oneshot.


So I've had this sitting on my external hard drive for about a year or so. It's un-betaed so all mistakes are purely mine. Bonus points if you find the quote that inspired this entire thing is. Reviews are love!

-x-

Her house is quiet, and she sighs before flopping down on the couch. She sits on one of Beth's stuffed animals and she shakes her head as she gently placed it on the coffee table in front of her. Looks like she's going to have to talk to her eight year old about putting her stuff away when she gets home from her day with Santana.

She likes having the peace and quiet of a house to herself, but she misses her daughter. She already has to share her time with Beth with Puck, they each get her for two weeks at a time, so sometimes she really hates it when their friends take their daughter away during her time.

Her and Puck had tried to make a go of being together, being a real family for Beth after she'd been born, but they'd been so young, and throwing a new born baby into the mix just made everything crazy, so she'd moved in with her mother, and the two learned how to co-parent together flawlessly. She's glad that they get along as friends. This way Beth doesn't miss having one or the other parent at her school things, and they don't mind taking her shopping for mother's or father's day. They're always on the same page when it comes to her punishments (not that that happens often, but still), and honestly, Quinn thinks this is better than the tense upbringing she had.

Although, things had been strained between the two of them lately. After he'd broken up with the girl he'd been seeing on and off for six months, they'd kind of been flirting, and there may have been some kissing when Beth wasn't around, and she started thinking that maybe they'd end up being the family they had wanted when they had been 16.

Maybe something would have come of it if his ex-hadn't of come knocking on his door announcing her pregnancy. Puck told her he planned on marrying the other girl and Quinn had backed off immediately and they tried to go back to how things had been before, even if it was awkward. They still had a daughter, and they still had to be a team. Although, before, they'd talk about their days and whatever else, now everything was strictly about Beth.

She's startled by a knock on her front door and she contemplates ignoring it, but ultimately she pushes herself to her feet and heads to the door. She's a little surprised to see Puck on her doorstep, but she steps aside and invites him anyway. She leads him to the kitchen, and he awkwardly takes a seat on one of her kitchen island barstools.

She doesn't know what he's doing here, and honestly she's not really sure she wants to know. She has a feeling on how this will go, and she's not in the mood for this today. Instead she ignores her instincts.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" She asks him leaning against the cupboards.

"No I'm good." They stay quiet for a few minutes before she speaks again.

"Did you come here for any particular reason or…" she lets her voice trail off at the end.

"I just can't stop thinking about what was happening between us before and I don't know Quinn, I want us to have a family with Beth. I don't want this. I—"

She feels herself getting angry at his words. She's over playing games, and cheating. She's an adult now, she has a child, and she doesn't want her daughter to make the same mistakes she did. Is this what she would have planned for her life? No. Is this their reality? Yes. She cuts him off. "Is Lizzie still pregnant?" she demands crossing her arms across her chest.

She feels like the anger and sadness about the whole situation is just taking over her body. She hates that he got someone else pregnant. She hates that they'll never be a "real" family. She hates him for making her feel that way about him again. They had been fine, things had been fine and things worked and they were friends, and their daughter was happy and healthy. She hates that he ruined their last chance at making a go at being a family. She understands that surprises happen (she has an eight year old walking reminder that surprises happen), but she hates him for not learning his lesson the first time around.

She should be planning her wedding with him. She should be planning on more babies with him. Lizzie has what she's always wanted with him deep down inside and it hurts. It hurts and it makes her hate him a little bit for putting them all in this situation.

He seems thrown off by her question for a minute. "Of course she is," he finally replies.

"Are you still with her?"

"Yes."

"Are you still going to marry her?"

"Yes."

"Then honey we are where we are. Accept it. Do you think I wanted this Puck? I'm 24 and I'm a single mother. Do you think I wanted to have our daughter grow up going back and forth between houses? Don't you think I would have liked to maybe marry you and have a couple more babies? But guess what, this is our reality, and we have to do the best we can with that."

"Then why are you just telling me this now Quinn? We could have been together years ago if you'd just said the God damn words."

She snaps her head back almost as if she's been slapped. She can't believe he's trying to pin this whole…mess onto her. She's so angry she's shaking and she's close to tears, but she doesn't want him to see her cry. Not about this. "Don't you dare pin this on me Noah Puckerman," she starts her voice dangerously low. "I was a sixteen year old mother who had no idea what the hell she was doing. I had a boyfriend, who no matter how hard he tried, could not seem to stop his wandering eyes. And guess what Puck, I am not my mother and there is no way I was going to put up with that shit for years. We were young, and it was complicated, and at the time the best thing for us all was me taking Beth and going back to my mother's. Do you think we'd still be together now? Do you? Because I sure as hell don't."

He sighs and runs a hand through his hair. "You're so fucking frustrating you know that? I know what I was like when I was sixteen, but I haven't been like that in a long fucking time Quinn and we both know it. And if you had given me any indication, any indication at all that you wanted this," he yells gesturing between the two of them, "I would of dropped everything, and we would have been a fucking family."

"Please. You think I don't know what you do when Beth isn't at your house? I'm not an idiot Puck. Once a sex shark always a sex shark right?" They're getting into dangerous territory here and she knows her. Her next words are aimed to hurt because she can't handle this anymore. She just wants to curl up on the couch and cry for what could have been. "You're a man whore Puckerman. Everyone knows it. So why don't you just own up to it and quit blaming your poor choices and why we're not a family on me."

His gaze is angry as he looks at her, and if this was any other time she would feel horrible. She's so angry she's seeing red and she can feel tears in her eyes. She wraps her arms around her waist to try and stop herself from shaking and from throwing the nearest object she can find at him. His next words are so quiet she almost doesn't hear him. "Fuck you Quinn. I can't…I can't look at you. I'll fucking pick Beth up Sunday before dinner. Fucking have her ready to go, I don't want to come inside."

She feels all the anger drain out of her as he turns away and slams her front door behind her. She slowly sinks to the ground, bringing her knees to her chest and just cries. She cries for her daughter having to grow up the way she is, she cries for their choices that led them to this point, she cries for everything that could have been, and she cries for what their lives have become. She loses track of how long she's on the floor before she hears her front door open and Beth and Santana chatting cheerfully. She quickly gets up and rushes into the bathroom off of the kitchen and splashes cold water on her face as she hears them come in.

"Mama?" Beth calls out walking into the kitchen. She quickly dabs at her face and makes sure that none of her mascara or eyeliner is running, before she plasters a smile on her face and steps out of the bathroom.

"Hi baby, did you have fun with Aunt San?" She asks pulling her daughter into her arms and pushing everything else aside. Nothing else matters except for her daughter and she'll make damn sure that none of this affects her in any way.


End file.
